Stop The Clot - Reducing Blood Clot Risk For Hospital Patients

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PDF printable version of Stop The Clot - Reducing Blood Clot Risk For Hospital Patients (PDF 27 KB)

28 May 2008

A new national prevention program to stop potentially lethal blood clots developing in private hospital patients was launched in Canberra today by Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon.

Blood clots kill at least 2,000 people each year. Around 30,000 Australians are hospitalised each year due to blood clots. Hospital patients are at 25 times greater risk of developing a clot than air travellers.

Titled Stop the Clot, this program was developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council’s National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) and successfully implemented in over 40 public hospitals nationally. Now NICS is working with the private hospital sector to reduce the incidence of blood clots in private hospitals.

The Australian Government is committed to working with both public and private hospitals to raise standards and improve safety. Ms Roxon has made clear that accountability measures in the new Australian Health Care Agreements will apply to both public and private hospitals.

The program is funded by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to improve the assessment and management of venous thrombo embolism (VTE or blood clot) risk in hospitalised patients.

"In my twenty years as an emergency physician I treated too many patients suffering from blood clots, returning to hospital after being discharged. The luckier ones returned to emergency departments with leg pain and swelling and the prospect of chronic circulation problems in their legs.

"Others came by ambulance - shocked, breathless, collapsed. Some came in cardiac arrest," said Prof. Chris Baggoley, Chief Executive of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Minister Roxon stressed the urgent need to better manage high risk patients in a bid to cut the VTE toll. “For those that survive, there are significant long term consequences and costs,” Minister Roxon said. “Patients with VTE require diagnostic tests, treatment with blood thinning drugs, a longer hospital stay and lifelong tests and treatment.”

According to Prof. Warwick Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Stop the Clot program uses a world first whole of hospital approach to minimise the risk of blood clots.

“The key is identifying at risk patients and managing them throughout their entire hospital stay from admission to discharge and even post-discharge,” he said.

“Simple management measures, such as the use of blood thinning drugs and compression stockings, systematically used across all departments can have a big impact.

“We know what we have to do to prevent blood clots occurring, but the challenge has been changing hospitals’ systems and procedures to address the issue across the board.”

Hospitals participating in the Stop the Clot program are supported by NICS to identify the key issues required to systematically integrate best practice guidelines into routine hospital care.

NICS, with the support of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, is now recruiting private hospitals wishing to take part in the new program.

About Blood Clots (VTE)

• The majority of VTE cases requiring hospitalisation are related to a previous hospital stay either for surgery or an acute illness.

• Blood clots initially form in the leg, affecting blood flow and causing severe pain and swelling. Permanent damage to the leg may also result.

• When a blood clot forms, some of it may travel to the lungs, blocking their blood supply. Without blood, the lungs cannot send oxygen to the rest of the body, leading to difficulty breathing and even death.

• Treatment reduces the risk of a blood clot developing by about two-thirds.

• At risk patients include those in hospital for: major trauma (physical injury); critical care; hip or knee replacement; prolonged surgery; stroke ; heart failure; cancer; severe lung disease; severe infection or inflammation or those who have had a blood clot in the past.

• Prevention measures include wearing compression stockings; using a compression pump on the lower legs; taking tablets or injections; gently exercising feet and legs in bed and walking as soon as possible.